Memorandum submitted by Willmott Dixon
Further to our meeting on 26 January, I am writing
to set out Willmott Dixon's key recommendations for inclusion
in the DECC Committee's forthcoming report into Low Carbon
Technologies in a Green Economy.
Our position paper, A Low Carbon Built Environment,
tackles what we believe needs to be done by our industry and Government
to create the step change needed to meet this challenge. It follows
the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan and accompanying UK Low Carbon
Industrial Strategy launched by DECC in the summer, and Lord Mandelson's
review of the construction sector's ability to deliver a low carbon
built environment.
The Government has rightly focused the construction
industry's role in the transition to a low carbon economy, with
the Low Carbon Industrial Strategy identifying low carbon buildings
and construction as one of the 11 priority sectors presenting
the greatest economic opportunity for the UK.
The skills available to deliver low and zero
carbon buildings are in our view limited; this goes right through
the industry from investors, project managers, designers, the
workforce and facility managers to those who use buildings.
Willmott Dixon wants to help develop ideas and
recommendations that will achieve a lower carbon, sustainable
future. This includes setting our own tough targets, and we aim
to be carbon neutral by 2012 and make smarter use of resources
in order to send zero waste to landfill by 2012.
In Willmott Dixon's opinion there is much that
can be done to ensure the industry is ready for a low carbon future,
both in how it does business, and the product it creates.
Our paper recommends key measures that can be
taken. They are as follows:
RECOMMENDATION 1
Government can use its buying power to lead
by example and should commit to three exemplar low carbon new
build and three low carbon refits of non-housing developments
each year, spread across Regional Development Agencies.
These exemplars would be used to measure performance
and develop knowledge for wider industry use. This could be led
by either the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills or
the Department for Energy and Climate Change.
Companies that show real initiative by investing
in their own skill-set to build, refit and maintain low carbon
buildings should be included in a "low carbon" framework
that can bid for such work.
RECOMMENDATION 2
Government must set legislation for non-domestic
buildings to achieve carbon targets by 2020 (rather than ambitions),
backed up with sufficient enforcement and with meaningful penalties
for non-compliance. It must support this with a robust definition
for both low and zero carbon buildings where there is absolutely
no ambiguity of what is included and what is not. The same definition
must also apply for energy from renewable sources.
RECOMMENDATION 3
Defining and creating a role of Carbon Manager
as a position with "clout" with responsibility for the
energy and carbon performance during a building's design, construction
and occupancy will give added focus to achieving the necessary
carbon targets.
RECOMMENDATION 4
Create an "Innovation Fund" where
any company from the materials and construction sector can bid
for a grant for an audited R&D programme. This could be coordinated
by an organisation like the UK Green Building Council.
RECOMMENDATION 5
Public procurement models should be subjected
to a route and branch review as they need to move away from making
decisions purely on capital cost to whole life cost, merging budgets
for Cap Ex with Op X. The UK will only deliver zero carbon buildings
where the procurement is on the basis of Whole Life Cost/Life
Cycle Cost.
RECOMMENDATION 6
The Government needs to develop new procurement
models that go beyond PFI. These would allow companies to provide
a whole life service with responsibility for carbon management
of that building. This would encourage early involvement of the
carbon manager at the inception and design stages.
RECOMMENDATION 7
Post Occupancy Evaluation at one, three and
five years after handover must be routine for public sector buildings,
with its findings (including what worked, what did not and life
cycle costs) made publicly available to help the learning the
industry needs to deliver a low carbon built environment.
RECOMMENDATION 8
Government must extend the threshold for Display
Energy Certificates (DEC) beyond public buildings of more than
1,000m2 to all private sector buildings of similar size thereby
ensuring that hotels, supermarkets and privately owned buildings
visited frequently by the public tell the truth every year about
their actual energy performance. We would further suggest that
there is a need to ensure that Energy Performance Certificates
(EPCs) and DECs are compatible so that the performance of a building
in design can be compared to its performance in use.
We hope you will be able to work these recommendations
into the DECC report, as it is crucial that the concerns of the
construction industry are recognised, given the sector's importance
in helping the Government to achieve its vision of a low carbon
economy.
However, much work needs to be done by the Government,
not least in terms of a definition for a Zero Carbon Building,
including "allowable solutions".
I hope you find these recommendations useful,
and if you would like any additional information then please do
not hesitate to contact me.
February 2010
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